BRANDON — Gunfire inside the Brandon Exchange sent shoppers running Wednesday evening and brought more than 100 Hillsborough County deputies to the mall. Nobody was shot, but the people involved were gone before deputies got there, and as of Thursday morning no arrests had been announced.
What happened
The first 911 call came in at 5:16 p.m., and five more followed over the next two minutes, all reporting a possible shooter near the Verizon store, according to the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office. Deputies were dispatched at 5:17 p.m. and the first one arrived a minute later.
Investigators say two groups of people got into an altercation before shots were fired. Surveillance video shows the people involved leaving the mall as deputies were arriving.
A store window was shattered, and one employee inside that store suffered a minor cut. No one was hit by gunfire.
A mall-wide sweep
Deputies from the K-9 Unit, Drone Response Team and Aviation Unit joined patrol deputies to clear businesses throughout the mall and search the property. The sheriff's office stressed early on that it was not an active-shooter situation, and the mall was closed while deputies worked.
Inside, workers pulled shoppers to safety. “Everyone just started running straight through the restaurant. People trying to come into the back, people trying to get through the back door just so they could get safe. It was a lot,” Beck Morris, who works at the mall's Red Robin, told FOX 13.
“Exiting the mall was pretty crazy,” shopper Clementine Bell told the station. “Just the police cars everywhere, looking up in the sky and seeing search drones and everything.”
What we still don't know
The sheriff's office hasn't released names or descriptions of anyone involved, how many shots were fired, or what started the argument. Detectives describe it as an isolated incident between two groups and say there's no known threat to the public, ABC Action News reported.
“The response to this incident shows the strength and commitment of our team,” Sheriff Chad Chronister said. “This was an isolated incident between two groups, and our detectives will remain vigilant until those responsible are identified and arrested.”
Anyone with information can call the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office at 813-247-8200. We'll update this story if arrests are made.